…says Damagum’s survival is not defeat for Atiku or victory for Wike, it’s for the interest of PDP

The Senate Minority Leader, Senator Comrade Abba Patrick Moro, PDP, Benue South has given insight why the MInister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Nyesom Wike was allowed to attend the National Caucus meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, preparatory to last week’s National Executive Committee, meeting of the party.

According to Moro, there was no way Wike would have been stopped from attending the meeting since he has not been found guilty of any crime and penalized by the party.

The Minority leader said that if the party’s disciplinary committee, headed by former President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki found Wike guilty of the alleged antiparty activities and have him sanctioned, he would stop attending the party’s meetings.

Moro said the survival of Amb. Umar Lliya Damagum as Acting National Chairman of PDP was not a victory or defeat for anybody but a decision that was unanimously agreed on by the relevant stakeholders for the party to forge ahead.

Senator Moro’s reaction was against the backdrop of rumours in some quarters that Amb. Damagum’s survival, against call for his resignation, was victory for the former governor of River State, Nyesom Wike, and a defeat for PDP Presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar.

In a statement on Sunday by his Media Adviser, Emmanuel Eche’Ofun John, Senator Moro said the activities and inactivities of PDP should not be translated to Atiku and Wike.

He said the whole issue was not about victory or defeat for anybody but about PDP; about providing an alternative formidable platform for Nigerians to look up to.

Moro said, “We cannot translate the entirety of PDP’s activities and inactivities to Wike and Atiku, out of millions of other members of the party across the country who also have their own thinking and reasons for being in the party.

“The whole issue was not about Wike or Atiku, or victory for Wike or defeat for Atiku, the issue was existential.

“We came together and reasoned together, that in the present scenario where Nigerians are hurting due to the maladministration of the APC government, what do we do to provide an alternative platform for Nigerians to look up to? In that circumstances, we decided to thread with caution so that we dont throw away the baby with the bath water,” he said.

On why the National Caucus of the party allowed Nyesom Wike into their meeting, the Minority Leader said, “The constitution of our party is very clear on who is a member and who is not a member of the caucus of the party and I dare say, at this point, that as a former governor who is still a member of the party, Nyesom Wike is a member of the National Caucus of the party.

“If actions had been taken immediately after the elections and people who are perceived to have acted contrary to the desires and yearnings of the PDP have been sanctioned, then we can say that having been expelled or suspended, you can’t be here, but as it is, non of such actions has been taken, so you can’t just ban people from attending meetings.

“One of the fallouts of the last NEC meeting was the resuscitation of the Reconciliation and Disciplinary Committee, which is saddled with the responsibility of identifying the area of antiparty and the dramatis personae involved in the activities, and recommend appropriate punitive measures against those who have been found guilty to serve as deterrent to future occurrence.

“Unfortunately, that hasn’t been done, and so to that extent, as a voluntary organization, if the members involved insist they are still members of the party, until actions are taken by the Reconciliation and Disciplinary Committe we want to take that they are still members of the party.”

On expectations from the next NEC meeting scheduled for August 15 as it concerns the position of the National Chairman of the party, Moro who noted that the party’s constitution had a well spelt out succession plan, said, “The constitution of our party has a well spelt-out succession plan. Section 35 (3C) states that where a vacancy exists, someone from the zone of the immediate past occupier of the office shall be appointed by NEC to complete the tenure of the person who vacated the office.

“For the position of the National Chairman, we will look at the succession plan of the party, in accordance with the constitutional provisions, and produce a replacement for Senator Iyorchia Ayu from North Central now that he has heeded to our plea and withdrawn his case from the court. We will go to the next NEC meeting with open minds and invoke the relevant sections of the constitution to produce his replacement.”

Senator Moro who appealed to members and stakeholders of the party to have some level of circumspection and restraints in their actions and utterances so as not to further polarize the party, assured that everything humanly possible would be done to put the party on its winning ways, to rescue Nigerians from the grinding poverty and sufferings that the ruling APC has plunged them into.

[Vanguard]

Naira, Nigeria’s currency is set to stabilise further as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has agreed with the International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) and foreign investors to double remittance flow in the country, in the short to medium term.

To achieve this, the CBN said it is setting up a tax force that will ensure that all hindrances to the foreign inflows are addressed. 

Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN, disclosed this at a joint press conference of the ministry of finance and the CBN in Washington D.C. at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank meetings. 

Foreign exchange inflows to Nigeria rose to $2.3 billion in February, the central bank according to the CBN, driven by renewed interest from foreign investors and a rise in overseas remittances.

According to Statista the personal remittances received in Nigeria increased by 0.7 billion U.S. dollars (+3.59 percent) in 2022. In total, the personal remittances received amounted to 20.13 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.

Remittances are flows of money between immigrants and their relatives. They refer to personal transfers between resident and non-resident individuals, and the compensation of employees who are employed in an economy where they are not resident, and of residents employed by non-resident entities.

“Besides our meetings with multilateral financial institutions, and foreign investor groups, with a keen interest on developments in Nigeria, including the US Chamber of Commerce, we had very productive discussions with leading international money transfer operators IMTOs, where we collectively committed to doubling remittance flows through formal channels into Nigeria in the immediate short to medium term. 

“This target is both ambitious and achievable. And we are wasting no time in setting up a collaborative Task Force reporting to myself to drive progress and address any bottlenecks that hinder flows through formal channels,” Cardoso said.

The naira weakened by the most in over a month at the parallel market on Friday, ending a rally since late March that had made the currency the world’s best performer.

A dollar sold for N1,230 in street trading on Friday, a 17 percent decline compared to N1,050 the previous day.

Traders say there was an uptick in demand on the day but still expect the naira to pare the losses in the coming days.

The naira also depreciated at the official market to N1,169.99 against the dollar on Friday — a 1.38 percent drop from the N1,154.08/$ rate on April 18.

He said in the six months since assumed the position of Central Bank governor, the challenges have been significant from grappling with inflation to addressing volatility in the foreign exchange market.

“However, with relative stability now achieved particularly in the foreign exchange market, we have transitioned from firefighting to strategic planning across key areas.

“These areas include improving the ease of doing business in Nigeria to consolidate and sustain the gains through an efficient and transparent market system and boosting financial and economic inclusion for small businesses and households. Interrogating all potential ways to leverage smarter use of technology and remote banking to reduce the cost of transactions and expand access accessibility to the financial system,” Cardoso said.

Mr Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede, Chairman of Access Holdings Plc, has expressed confidence about raising 300 million dollars in capital for Access Bank, considering the bank’s strong market position and shareholders’ support.

Aig-Imokhuede said this in an interview on the sideline of Access Holdings’ second Annual General Meeting(AGM) held in Lagos.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on March 29, directed commercial banks in Nigeria with international authorisation to shore up their capital base to N500 billion and national banks to N200 billion.

Similarly, non-interest banks with national and regional authorisation will increase their capital to N20 billion and N10 billion, respectively.

The recapitalisation exercise is expected to commence from April 1, through March 31, 2026.

Consequently, the shareholders of Access Bank at the AGM unanimously backed the Group’s plan to establish a capital raising programme of up to $1.5 billion.

They also agreed to the subset initiative to raise up to N365 billion specifically, through a Rights Issue of ordinary shares to its shareholders.

The proceeds of the rights issue will be used to support ongoing working capital needs, including organic growth funding for the group’s banking and other non-banking subsidiaries

Aig-Imokhuede explained that having announced to embark on a capital raising through Right Issue, he was confident that the group’s shareholders would support the bank in the journey.

He stated that Access Holdings has a unique relationship with the capital market in Nigeria and internationally.

“It is not the first time CBN is coming up with such policy.

“Recall that in 2004 when CBN announced that all banks must recapitalise to the tune of N25 billion and Access Bank had about N3 billion of capital.

“Between 2004 and 2007, however, our team, when I was the CEO of the bank, raised two billion dollars of common equity capital.

“Therefore, in 2024 when Access Holdings is much older, wiser, stronger, larger and significantly respected by the capital market with over 800,000 shareholders, raising 300 million dollars in capital for Access Bank, its banking subsidiary is not really much of a challenge.

“We signalled to the market first that we will be doing a Right Issue, which means that we must carry everybody along, in spite of our large institutional shareholders.

“Nonetheless, we believe in ensuring that shareholders, either large or small, continue with us on our journey.

“They have always supported us when need be with good reasons, because they believe in the company and the performance that would be delivered subsequently to such capital raising exercise.

“What is on the mind of our shareholders now is recapitalisation and they are also concerned about how their company continues to deliver returns,” he said.

Commenting on the CBN recapilisation policy, the chairman noted that Access Bank as a group endorses the CBN policy wholeheartedly.

Aig-Imokhuede described the policy as a good and sensible prudential regulation.

He added that banks, particularly after period of significant devaluation of domestic currency, volatility in the foreign exchange, and interest rate regime, are always encouraged to build up their capital buffer.

According to him, this is to ensure that whatever adverse effect that may arise as a result of the dynamic changes in the business environment would not affect their very concern.

In terms of performance and expectations from Access Holdings going forward, Aig-Imokhuede stated that the earning profile of the group, which spread across Nigeria, Africa and outside Africa subsidiaries, is very robust.

He said: “As an investor, you always look to see whether there is deep concentration where the profit is coming from; in our case, these arears are spread across three core areas that is of significant interest to local and international investors.

“If you look at the performance of banks in the year ended 2023 financial reports, you will see that all banks in naira terms have increased significantly their profitability as a result of the devaluation.

“But that isn’t the case with Access Bank, whose revaluation benefits come from the fact that it has significant international operations, because it is not a function of holding large foreign currency balances.

According to him, Access Bank, United Kingdom for example, is the largest and probably highest performing Sub-saharan African bank that has a license in the UK and making hundred of millions of naira of profit from the UK.

The chairman further said that this is not an accounting benefit that comes in the year 2023, but will continue, and with the operations of the bank in France, and across other European, Asia and Middle Eastern jurisdiction.

“We can see that the foreign currency benefit of profit in those locations are going to also accrued to the holding.

“The holding as an investor is also thinking of retail banking, which is like a utility. A retail banking with about 60 million customers is enough to sustain the bank anytime, irrespective of how volatile or uncertain the market is,” he said.

Access Holdings full-year results for the period ended Dec. 31, 2023, showcased an impressive 335 per cent increase in pre-tax profit to N729 billion from N167.68 billion in 2022.

The group also experienced an 87 per cent surge in gross earnings to N2.59 trillion from N1.39 trillion in 2022 and reported a remarkable 306 per cent growth in profit After Tax to N619.32 billion, from N152.20 billion posted in year 2022.

(NAN)

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, says he doesn’t have an account on X, formerly Twitter.

Fagbemi, in a statement on Saturday by Kamarudeen Ogundele, Special Assistant to the President on Communication and Publicity, Office of the AGF, advised members of the public not to engage with handles impersonating him.

“The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, has no Twitter handle.

“He has channels of communicating with Nigerians, but Twitter is not one of them, at least for now.

“The public should take notice of this and be well guided for future interactions,” the statement said.